


Dark of Heartness

by Blue_Mistfall



Series: Gem YouTuber AU [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fusion!Darkiplier, Gem!Egos, Story within a Story, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23594914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Mistfall/pseuds/Blue_Mistfall
Summary: Amy has to stay at the Gem house because of heavy rain outside, and she discovers some new things about the Gem habits and abilities.
Series: Gem YouTuber AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643341
Kudos: 9





	Dark of Heartness

Only when the door slammed shut behind her, Amy felt some kind of relief as far as it was possible with her being soaking wet. So much for taking a walk! The Gem gang home was the closest place to hide from both rain and people who could see her wandering here (this place still was considered to be no good).  
“Amy?..”  
The main room wasn’t lit, so the slurred voice from the left made the girl start before she realized who it was.  
“Ah… hi Robbie,” she mumbled, shivering.  
“Wait… a moment,” the Off-Color’s voice replied. “I’ll go… get… Marvin.”  
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long despite Robbie’s being slow. Some minutes later Amy was sitting in front of the fireplace, accompanied by Marvin the Magnificent (who had created this fire in mere seconds) and Robbie – purple fringe, legs seemingly sewed out of patches and a striped shirt with far too long sleeves.  
“Where is everybody?” Amy asked. This wasn’t any ordinary fire: it made the water evaporate from her clothes, having created some kind of clouds, although it didn’t burn her at all. No wonder: if Marvin could do anything great, it was playing with fire (in all senses).  
“The Diamonds are in the Temple Room,” Marvin explained, pointing at the door with the ten-beam star on it. “Working on a new project together with Google, S34N and Logan. Something technical, I suppose.”  
“They needed… all the… electricity,” Robbie added.  
The steam stopped rushing from Amy’s clothes, and they turned dry and warm.  
“That’s better,” Marvin assumed. “Hey, wanna come with us? The Host is telling a new story tonight. You still can’t go anywhere before it stops raining, right?”  
“Story?”  
“Yes. Haven’t you heard? We don’t need to sleep like you do, so the Host uses nighttime to tell stories. He also records them and sends to audiobook companies and runs the radio show. I think your friend Ethan should know about it.”  
“Okay.”  
Amy couldn’t help feeling uneasy in the company of these quirky, but benign creatures of all colors, although in the dim candlelight they all seemed dun, and only their gems were sparkling from time to time. They all gathered around a huge table, as if going to summon spirits, and the Host – face divided in two with a blindfold, a single golden lock among the rest of his jet-black hair, ‘vertical eye’ gem on the forehead – waited for silence to arrive and began.  
  
_A single wall away from here there was a world which had never seen the sun, for its sky was constantly closed with clouds and it was raining. It had been raining for so long that the inhabitants of this world had completely forgotten what the sun looks like. As a result, it became an underground labyrinth of ways where the rain could not get, but there still were oddballs who owned houses in the upper world, over the steel skies, and even lived there sometimes. However, there were less and less such ones, because the abandoned houses were slowly but surely occupied by geeks… Who were those geeks? Anybody. They were ghosts, nagas, centaurs, even angels – every kind of creatures possessing likeness to humans. However, they were not taken calmly. On the contrary, humans did their best to avoid them even though they could not give clear reasons for this.  
But you should not believe that geeks lived peacefully. They were not flawless, and their main flaw was their belief that their species was dominating. Angels were proud of being angels, centaurs were proud of being centaurs, and so on. They kept to themselves in most cases.  
You should agree that being forced to stay inside and never being able to come out would influence them. And it did – both humans and geeks. They tended to never let in a person who was mad enough to walk down the street, soaking under the neverending rain, to say nothing of zombies. Zombies were rare among geeks, but they existed. Some humans believed that it was the rain which had caused them to appear.  
Despite being a zombie, Robbie didn’t know where he came from. All he knew was that it had been scary, so he still was afraid of small spaces and total darkness. At first he tried knocking at the doors, but no one answered despite the lights being on. Lights. Robbie loved lights, especially the warm ones, because they allowed seeing more. And tonight it happened this way.  
Robbie was weird because he still carried an umbrella, although it was useless during this eternal rain. Water found a way no matter if you used it or not. But now… Robbie stopped, and his mouth slowly opened with surprise: an angel was sitting on the pavement, leaning on the fence and hugging his knees. Angels were majestic. Angels were various, even those which had holographic wings. Angels were proud. But this one reminded Robbie of himself, particularly because of the purplish shades on his black wings and black circles under his eyes. Of course, this angel had a halo, but it was seemingly made of ink – black, unstable and steaming when raindrops touched it.  
The angel’s fingers twitched when he felt that the stream of rain became weaker. He slowly raised his head.  
“What are you doing?” he muttered. “Do you think it’s going to make things better? No.”  
Robbie stayed there, holding the umbrella over the angel’s head.  
“Are you dumb or pretending?” the angel grumbled. “Go and join your kind, you stitched abomination.”  
If Robbie knew anything, it was that saying insults, but not doing anything to their addressee meant that it was done just to be done. For the sake of decency, to put it easy. And the ‘stitched abomination’ wasn’t such an insult, if so. Robbie had heard much worse.  
“Why don’t… you… leave?” Robbie asked, combing his fringe to the side for it not to block his view.  
“I’ve been kicked out not so long ago,” the angel explained. “Still haven’t gotten used to staying under the rain.” He unfolded his right wing, showing that its flight feathers were stuck to each other. “See?”  
“Kicked… out? Why?”  
“Don’t be ridiculous. Can’t you see? I’m a Fallen. Neither a Technologic nor a Royal… nor even a Demon. You know, there should be balance, therefore Demons are among us as well. But me… formally I’m an Angel, but in fact…” he sighed.   
“Don’t… Demons… have horns?” Robbie wondered. For the first time the angel gave out something like a tolerant smile.  
“Yeah… you’re right, you dead meat… but who would care?”  
They stayed quiet for a short while.  
“Robbie.”  
“What?”  
“I said… Robbie. That’s… my name.”  
“Ah… I’m Virgil.”_  
  
“Did you name the characters like that on purpose?” Virgil put in, having seized the moment when the Host paused. “Although, yeah, I wouldn’t mind growing a pair of extra limbs.” He enviously stared at Marvin, who had no trouble in sprouting a pair of fiery wings whenever he wanted.  
“Don’t you know that his stories come true if the names and characteristics match?” Edward asked. “In movies, they often say that coincidences are accidental. So, if he tells a story featuring a Charoite named Virgil, its events will happen to you because you exist. But if he tells one about a fallen angel named Virgil, it’s okay because, strictly saying, angels do not exist. And even if they do, they would live too far away for the Host to be able to influence them…”  
“Edward is quite right,” the Host approved. “So the Host will go on.”  
  
_The next day Robbie came to the same place, but Virgil was no longer there. Only the purplish black feathers marked that he had been there. And Robbie set off to search. Something was telling him that the color purple was not the only thing that united him and this gloomy creature which managed to keep a heart.  
Robbie didn’t know why he did it, but he gathered all those feathers and followed the direction they indicated. And it appeared to be the right one, for he found at least two similar feathers per day. He spent his nights in cellars and ate dead animals, mostly rats, though sometimes he managed to steal something that would not spoil from the abandoned houses and shops, like dried fruit or jerked beef. But he mostly kept that for later.  
The zombie lost the track of time – he couldn’t even distinguish if it was day or night, although the difference was still there, ever so slight (and maybe due to it the humans who still visited their overworld houses believed the rain would stop one day). Night came for him when he got tired.  
His patchwork bag was threatening to get overfilled with feathers when the rain over him stopped all of a sudden. Robbie raised his head – he was dozing next to someone’s high doorstep – and his slowed-down heart skipped a beat, for it was Virgil’s wing protecting him from the element. This time it was fully open, as well as the other, and Virgil’s feet weren’t touching the ground, staying at a height of about four inches above it.  
“You’re… here,” Robbie gasped.  
“Yes, I am, absolutely,” Virgil approved and glanced at Robbie’s bag. “My gosh, have you collected them all? But they’re perfectly useless now.”  
“Useless?”  
“Yes. I had to molt in order to be able to fly in this rain.”   
“Molt?”  
“Lose all of those and grow new ones,” Virgil explained. “See? Now they don’t stick together and do not absorb as much moist.”  
“And you’re… flying,” Robbie stated without a need.  
“I do… Wanna come with me?”  
“I don’t… understand,” Robbie stated. “Why did… you… leave… before?”  
“I didn’t want to be a bother,” Virgil stated. “A flightless angel is a shame. I had to wait before getting used to the rain, but now it seems like I am. And you’ve been kind to me, you dimwit. Coming?”  
Robbie didn’t have anything holding him there and therefore agreed. The next second they took off, and the zombie was taken aback that all it took was holding Virgil’s hand – he did not hang down as he logically would have, but soared to Virgil’s left, as if gliding on his own inexistent wings.  
“Trust,” Virgil pointed out. “It is enough to make anybody glide when accompanied by an angel. Mistrust, on the contrary, allows gravity to take over.”  
The higher they flew, the colder it became, but none of them paid attention: Robbie didn’t care about temperature due to his undead nature, and Virgil was used to such changes. Still both hid their surprise when the rain vanished, replaced by a wall of thickest grey fog. It didn’t last long, and suddenly the duo found themselves under the sky as they have never seen it before – of all shades of blue, purple and black, dotted with tiny little specks of light and with a wide misty stripe across it. In addition, it appeared to be smiling at them, as there also was a shiny white semicircle.  
“It’s even better that it’s night,” Virgil assumed and did a twirl, having made Robbie let out a ‘woah’. “I guess sun would’ve burnt us alive.”  
“Not true,” Robbie replied, as even he knew that sun wasn’t that deadly if people used to live under it. “So many… tiny lights…”  
“They’re called stars,” Virgil informed and turned over onto his back in midflight, putting Robbie in the same position. “The Milky Way is magnificent, right, Robster?”  
“Yes,” Robbie agreed, reaching out with his free hand to touch the fluff of the clouds under them.  
For some minutes they were drifting on their backs, adoring the sight.  
“Virgil?”  
“Hm?”  
“Why are there… no other… angels?”  
“They prefer searching for the reason without even exploring,” Virgil said. “They only laughed at me when I suggested going above the clouds. Stated that I would freeze to death. But, as you see, I am here, and so are you. Guess even the nature’s laws despise us.”  
Robbie had a faint feeling that there was more to the reasons why the angels did not go above the clouds, but he decided to keep them to themselves.  
“I think that it’s like molting. Undergoing a bit of pain to become better.” Virgil allowed himself and Robbie to turn into normal flight positions again. “Let’s go.”  
“Where?” Robbie asked.  
“Somewhere.”  
And so they went._  
  
“And that’s it?” Patton asked, dissatisfied. “Even no moral in the story?”  
“You always need moral, Patton,” Anti snapped. “I’m more worried about another thing, Host. I mean… this story is elaborately told, but I don’t like it’s ending.”  
“Anti needs action,” the Host stated. “Has Anti read classic American science fiction, especially short stories? They mostly end as if the rest was chopped off. Like ‘death followed instantly’. Or ‘are those amulets of witchcraft?’ The Host prefers such endings.”  
Having taken advantage of the discussion, Amy sneaked out of the room and advanced to the attic, as she felt this could be the only place empty for now. The story wasn’t scary or anything, but it made hidden sadness rise inside her, for there was one in her class – a boy named Warren who was bullied by almost all her classmates due to suffering from anxiety attacks. Poor Warren almost constantly followed Amy at school because she was the only one in the class who took him equally. However, Amy did not know how she could help him – really help.  
But maybe…  
“Are you there, Amy?”  
Definitely, it was the one whom Amy tried to avoid – one of the most peculiar inhabitants of this house. She had already gotten used to Anti with his sick sense of humor, Bing with his reckless attitude, even to Warfstache who could not look at the plate of food without throwing it somewhere (no talking about the Sanders Quads, who studied at her school, pretending to be humans), but not to Dark – two gems instead of one, four eyes, four arms (not under each other, but two arms growing from each shoulder) and height almost twice taller than an average human’s.   
“I am, Mr. Dark,” she replied, curling up in a ball, as if it helped to shrink and vanish from his sight. Dark approached to her and sat on the edge of the bed she was sitting on.  
“What happened, Amy? I thought that the Host’s story was not a horror one.”  
“It’s not. I mean… it reminded me of something,” Amy confessed, recalling that one of Dark’s abilities was making gems return to their original image if they pretended to be humans and making humans tell the truth by hitting them with his cane which he always carried around. So lying would not be an option. Dark kept silent, only his right eyebrow arched. “The Host… he said… that he only tells stories… about things that do not happen. I feel he’s right.”  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“I mean… in real life… there are no zombies and angels, and if there were, none of them would help each other.” Amy sighed. “Why would they if I can’t help even a single soul?” Dark’s other eyebrow jumped up. Things can’t get worse, Amy decided. “There’s a boy in my class… Warren… and everyone makes fun of him because he has anxiety.”  
“What is anxiety?”  
Right, Gems have no idea about most human things, the girl reminded herself.  
“It’s a disease… a mind disease… when worrying takes over. Warren has those attacks, and he can’t control himself until they end.”  
“It’s not funny.”  
“No, it’s not. Tell it to my classmates. I – I want to help Warren, but I don’t know how. Even the teachers joke about him and never listen. No wonder.”  
“I think I know who can help you,” Dark mused. “Do you know that Cognac Diamond created his charges on the basis of his personality features?”  
“Really?”  
“Yes. So, Charoite – you know him as Virgil – represents Anxiety. And the quads study at your school, right? Why don’t you ask them for help? I believe they are able to punish everyone who deserves it for good.”  
Amy recalled Ethan telling her about the quads’ first encounter with school, when they had punished the main jock Derek possibly forever – at least now he didn’t dare to open his mouth for nothing. Yes, they could defend themselves… Thinking over it, she did not feel four arms wrapping around her and being pulled into Dark’s lap.  
“What are you doing?” she muttered, noticing that his motions were slightly nervous.  
“I’ve seen adults of your world reassure children this way,” Dark replied, his hands and torso becoming significantly warmer. “You’ve been distressed all evening.”  
“Oh.” Amy caught herself thinking that Dark was not that creepy, after all. Yes, his skin was grey, no talking about his extra body parts, but his actions spoke for words. “How do you do that? I mean… cool, then… warmer…”  
“Our bodies are basically like holograms, but with mass,” Dark explained. “Therefore, we can make them perform certain effects. Wait a second…” He closed all four his eyes, and rhythmic thumping started under Amy’s ear that was resting on Dark’s chest. “Did I do it correct?”  
“You just grew yourself a heart?” she asked, eyes wide.  
“Grew is too much of a word. I find this sound calming, and you should be used to it.”  
They were sitting quietly for a couple of minutes, Dark’s long fingers absent-mindedly caressing Amy’s hair.  
“Dark, why do you have two gems, not one?” Amy asked.  
“Didn’t Signe tell you that I am a fusion?”  
“She did, but… I don’t understand. Who would agree to stay merged with someone else like Siamese twins?”  
“It’s not like that in my case. My parts were the first experiment performed by Black Diamond. At first they existed separately, but when the supreme Diamonds learned about them, she…” Dark’s forehead wrinkled, as if he was struck by a sudden headache attack. “Black Diamond kept them alive, but the fusion was the only way to prevent them from being completely destroyed even though they belonged to different types of Gems, and it was even worse than my Diamond’s experiments.”  
“That’s cruel,” Amy only managed to say. “But you… I don’t know… behave as a single person. Don’t they haunt you?”  
“Sometimes they do,” Dark confessed. “Like right now. See?”  
He pointed at his hands by his look – their fingers were laced now. Only now Amy noticed that one pair of Dark’s arms had sleeves with cobalt blue stripes on them, while the other had crimson.  
“So that’s why your eyes are mismatched,” Amy concluded, also taking to attention that Dark’s eyes were different not only in colour, but in shape as well: the blue bottom pair was a bit larger than the brown top pair.   
“Mm-hmm… You’ll probably see more fusions later. Specifically if you ask the quads for help, and I’m sure they will be glad to get to action.”  
“I think I will ask them,” Amy muttered with a yawn. The noise of the rain and the steady (although a bit slowed down) beat of Dark’s temporary heart slowly lulled her to sleep. Dark carefully placed her on the bed, stood up and frowned, having spotted Warfstache and Chase in the doorway – both were standing with their mouths agape, and Warfstache’s kaleidoscopic eyes even stopped spiraling. The fusion put his forefinger to his lips and exited the room, swinging his beloved cane.  
“Wow,” Chase breathed out when Dark closed the door behind him. “ Just… wow.”  
“What is so wow, I wonder?”  
“Didn’t expect you of all gems to… be so… sensitive,” Chase admitted.   
“Idiot,” Dark snapped. “There are two of us, and we don’t lack sensitivity. Do you know what it’s like? Having two spirits in one body? Although, perhaps, your children may know, for they have both human and gem parts. Ask them some day… As about you,” he poked Warfstache in the side with the tip of his cane, “you should learn some empathy. Might serve you well. Anyway, when will the electricity be returned? What are the Diamonds doing?”  
“Ah, scheming again,” Chase informed, while Warfstache bounced downstairs similarly to a ball, the curved toes of his oversized shoes reaching his pink fringe. “I suppose they’re attempting to make a phone that would grow together with them to make selfies. At least they’re not bored.”  
“I’m delighted to hear that.”  
That’s better, Chase thought – Dark referring to himself as ‘we’ made him nervous. And he could swear he heard a pulse when standing next to him. Chase was used to mimicking human special features like heartbeat, but detecting another Gem doing so was new. And if Dark of all Gems did so… Heart of Darkness. Dark of Heartness. Chase beamed: even the most inaccessible of all of them had a human part.

**Author's Note:**

> This one was inspired by several pics by the creator of this AU (https://www.deviantart.com/sifferko):  
> 1) The Host's story: fav.me/ddt2odo , fav.me/ddt2o9f and fav.me/ddfg2ul  
> 2) Dark's finger-lacing habit: fav.me/dd87js2  
> 3) The Diamonds working on a giant phone to make selfies: fav.me/ddrxru6


End file.
